Ross Miner (born January 24, 1991) is an American skating coach and retired competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

. He is the 2012 Four Continents bronze medalist, 2009 JGP Final bronze medalist, 2013 and 2018 U.S. national silver medalist and 2009 U.S. junior champion. In 2021, Miner was suspended from coaching for six months by the

United States Center for SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization set up to reduce sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports in the United States. Established in 2017 under the Protecting Young Victims from Sex ...

, for

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

Personal life

Ross Miner was born in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

. In addition to figure skating, he also played hockey until the age of 12. Miner moved from

Williston, Vermont Williston is a New England town, town in Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. Originally rural and laid out with many farms, in recent decades it has developed into a thriving suburb of Burlington, Vermont, Burlin ...

, to

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Sq ...

, when he was 12. He takes on-line courses from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Career

Early career

Ross Miner began skating at the age of three. When he was 12, he began training at the

Skating Club of Boston The Skating Club of Boston is a not-for-profit figure skating club based in Norwood, Massachusetts. Founded in 1912, it is one of the oldest skating clubs in the United States, and a founding member of U.S. Figure Skating, the governing body for ...

. He had to relearn much from scratch as his jump technique was extremely poor at the beginning – underrotating even single Axels; nevertheless, Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson agreed to coach him. In the 2004–05 season, Miner competed on the Intermediate level. He won the bronze medal at his regional championship to qualify for the U.S. Junior Championships, where he placed eighth. He remained on the intermediate level during the following season. He won the silver medal at his regional championship to qualify for the U.S. Junior Championships, where he won the gold medal. In the 2006–07 season, Miner moved up to the Novice level. He won his regional championship and then placed fifth at his sectional championship, missing qualifying for the 2007 U.S. Championships by one position. In the 2007–08 season, Miner remained on the Novice level. He won his sectional championship to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Championships, where he won the silver medal. Following the U.S. Championships, Miner was assigned to the 2008

Gardena Spring Trophy The Egna Spring Trophy (formerly the Gardena Spring Trophy) is an annual international figure skating competition which is generally held every spring in Val Gardena in Italy. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and pair skat ...

, where he won the silver medal on the Junior level. In the 2008–09 season, Miner moved up to the Junior level nationally. He won his sectional championships to qualify for the 2009 U.S. Championships. At Nationals, Miner won the short program and placed second in the free skate to win the gold medal overall. Following the event, Miner was named to the team to the 2009 World Junior Championships, where he placed tenth. Miner won the bronze medal at the 2009–10 Junior Grand Prix Final. He had qualified to compete at the senior level at the 2010 U.S. Nationals but suffered a high ankle sprain while practicing a triple Axel. He was forced to withdraw from the event and also missed the Junior Worlds that season.

Senior career

During the 2010–11 season, Miner finished ninth at

2010 NHK Trophy The 2010 NHK Trophy was the first event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Nippon Gaishi Ice Arena in Nagoya on October 22–24. Medals were aw ...

and seventh at

2010 Cup of China The 2010 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 4–7. Medals were a ...

. He made his senior national debut at the 2011 U.S. Championships where he won the bronze medal. He was selected to compete at the 2011 World Championships, where he finished eleventh. During the off-season, he worked on a

quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

Salchow and shortening the lead time into his jumps. Miner finished fifth at the 2012 Skate Canada International. At the

2012 NHK Trophy The 2012 NHK Trophy was the final event of six in the 2012–13 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sekisui Heim Super Arena in Miyagi on November 22–25. Medals we ...

, he landed his first quad Salchow in competition and took the bronze medal. At the 2013 U.S. Championships, Miner finished second, behind champion

Max Aaron Maxwell Theodore "Max" Aaron (born February 25, 1992) is an American former figure skater. He is the 2013 U.S. national champion, the 2015 Skate America champion, the 2011 U.S. national junior champion, and a three-time U.S. International Cl ...

. Miner was ninth at the 2013 Skate Canada International. He withdrew from his other Grand Prix event, the

2013 Trophee Eric Bompard Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number) * Any of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, or 2013 Music Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ''13'' (Blur album), 1999 * ''13'' (Borgeous album), 2016 * ''13'' (Brian Setzer album), 2006 * ...

, due to a right ankle sprain. He was seventh at the 2014 U.S. Championships. Miner began the 2014–15 season competing on the Challenger circuit, winning the silver medal at the 2014 US Classic and gold at the 2014 Autumn Classic. He was eighth at his lone Grand Prix assignment, the 2014 NHK Trophy, and finished sixth at the 2015 U.S. Championships. Starting the 2015–16 season again at the

U.S. Classic The U.S. Classic is an annual summer gymnastics meet for elite Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnasts of the United States. The meet occurs before USA Gymnastics National Championships, Nationals and is a qualifier for it. In Olympic years, the afo ...

, Miner won the bronze medal. On the

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

, Miner was seventh at

Skate America Skate America is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The first Skate America was in held in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, as a test event fo ...

before winning the bronze medal with personal best scores at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup. He was fifth at the 2016 U.S. Championships, but was nevertheless named to the American team for the 2016 Four Continents Championships, finishing fourteenth. Miner was sixth at the

2016 U.S. Classic The 2016 U.S. Classic, known as the 2016 Secret (deodorant brand), Secret U.S. Classic for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the U.S. Classic gymnastics tournament. The competition was held on June 4, 2016, at the XL Center in Hartford, ...

, before finishing twelfth at the

2016 Skate Canada International The 2016 Skate Canada International was the second of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre, Hershey Centre in Mississau ...

and ninth at the 2016 Cup of China. He was fifth at the 2017 U.S. Championships. To begin what would be his final competitive season, Miner finished sixth at the Autumn Classic. He was given a second Challenger assignment, and placed fifth at the

Finlandia Trophy The Finlandia Trophy an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by Skating Finland (). The competition debuted in 1995 in Helsinki, and when the ISU launched the ISU Challenger ...

. Given one

assignment, he was sixth at the

2017 Skate America The 2017 Skate America was the sixth event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held in Lake Placid, New York, on November 24–26. Medals were awarded in t ...

. In his final competition, Miner had a striking return to form at the 2018 U.S. Championships. Only sixth in the short program, he was second in the free skate, and took the silver medal. Despite his second-place finish, Miner was not named to the American team for the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

PyeongChang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

, with the second and third spots on the team going to bronze medalist

Vincent Zhou Vincent Zhou (born October 25, 2000) is an American figure skater. He is a 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the team event, a two-time World bronze medalist (2019 and 2022), the 2019 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2021 Skate America champ ...

and pewter medalist

Adam Rippon Adam Richard Rippon (born November 11, 1989) is a retired American competitive Figure skating, figure skater and media personality. He is the Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team eve ...

. This selection process was controversial, and Miner's coach Mark Mitchell criticized the US Federation publicly.

Coaching

Following his retirement from competition, Miner worked as a figure skating coach in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. In 2021, Miner was suspended from coaching for six months by the

for

. On March 31, 2022, the United States Center for SafeSport suspended Miner for another three months.

Programs

Competitive highlights

Detailed results

Senior level

Junior level

References

External links

*
Ross Miner
at SkatingScores
Ross Miner
at IceNetwork {{DEFAULTSORT:Miner, Ross American male single skaters 1991 births Living people Sports controversies Sportspeople from Burlington, Vermont Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists 21st-century American sportsmen